Strengthening the Sage for Transformative Leadership
Expanding Beyond IQ to Lead with Clarity, Confidence, and Impact
Are you an aspiring or early-stage entrepreneur, innovator, leader or changemaker looking to develop the skills you need to lead effectively in complex and uncertain times? Join SpinUp, Temerty Medicine’s Commercialization & Partnerships Unit, and the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus (SRIC) for this special University of Toronto Entrepreneurship Week event. Hosted by special guest TalentRise, you’ll learn the fundamentals of the Positive Intelligence framework and how it can help you become a stronger and more effective leader.
About the Workshop
Technical expertise may earn you a leadership role, but it is rarely enough to sustain you in it.
In fast moving startup and innovation environments, leaders are constantly navigating ambiguity, pressure, and competing demands. Data and logic matter, but so do empathy, self-awareness, and the ability to stay grounded when the stakes are high. The most effective leaders know how to access more than their analytical intelligence. They know how to lead from a place of mental fitness and inner clarity.
Strengthening the Sage for Transformative Leadership is an interactive workshop designed to help founders and emerging leaders develop the mindset required to lead effectively in complex and uncertain environments.
Drawing on the Positive Intelligence framework, this session introduces a simple and practical operating system for leadership, one that will help you quiet unhelpful internal reactions and strengthen your ability to respond thoughtfully rather than react automatically.
What You Will Learn
In this workshop, you will:
• Understand the limits of relying on IQ alone in leadership roles
• Learn the core principles of Positive Intelligence and the Sage mindset
• Identify common internal patterns that undermine clarity, judgement, and communication
• Practice tools to shift into a calmer, more focused, and resilient leadership state
• Strengthen your ability to lead with empathy, curiosity, and confidence under pressure through focused, real-world exercises
Why This Matters
Startups do not just test your ideas. They test you.
Your ability to stay mentally fit directly impacts how you communicate during moments of tension, how you make decisions when the data is incomplete, how you build trust and psychological safety with your team, and how you show up as a leader during periods of rapid change or uncertainty.
By strengthening your Positive Intelligence, you will be better equipped to lead with intention, presence, and sustained impact without burning out or defaulting to unhelpful habits.
Who Should Attend
This workshop is ideal for:
• Startup founders and co-founders
• Early stage and scaling leaders
• Technical experts stepping into people leadership roles
• Anyone navigating increased responsibility, ambiguity, or growth
No prior experience with Positive Intelligence is required.
What You Will Leave With
By the end of the session, you will:
• Have a clear understanding of how to access the Sage mindset in real time
• Walk away with practical tools you can apply immediately
• Know how to move beyond IQ-driven leadership toward a PQ-driven one that is more resilient and human-centred in approach
• Feel more confident, grounded, and intentional in how you lead
This is not a lecture. It is a practical, reflective, and engaging experience designed to support real leadership challenges in real startup environments.
*This event has a limited number of spots. If you register and can no longer attend, please let us know by emailing spinup@utoronto.ca. If maximum capacity is reached, we will open a waitlist and offer spots as they become available.